16 Sep 2013 07:00
For immediate release
16 September 2013
FRONTIER RESOURCES INTERNATIONAL PLC
("Frontier" or the "Company")
Operational Update: Sultanate of Oman
First exploration services outsourced on 100%-owned Block
The Board of Frontier (AIM Ticker: FRI), the AIM - traded international oil and gas exploration company with assets in Oman, Zambia and Namibia is pleased to provide shareholders with the following operational update on its activities in the Sultanate of Oman.
Frontier's 100%-owned Block 38, located in the Dhofar Region of southwest Oman, covers an area of approximately 17,425 square kilometers. A six year Exploration and Production Sharing Agreement (EPSA) was signed on 25 November 2012. Frontier is the operator. From the declaration of commerciality, which under the Oman EPSA means the date on which the Government of Oman approves a field development plan for the commercial discovery of crude oil or natural gas and as appropriate a gas sales agreement becomes effective, an Oman Government company will be entitled to a 25% participating interest in the Oman EPSA.
Having received bids from several data processing companies, the Company has selected BGP Inc., the U.S. subsidiary of the China National Petroleum Corporation, as the contractor to utilise its proprietary software package to provide high quality data processing services by re-processing selected 2-D seismic data from the vintage seismic data sets on the concession. These data sets were originally acquired by previous operators on the Block that included Phillips Petroleum, BP, Petroleum Development Oman and Sinopec. Frontier also expects to benefit from any new developments that result from work done at BGP's recently established state-of-the art research and development center in Houston, Texas.
Data reprocessing uses the latest in signal processing technology to enhance the interpretability of the seismic data by extracting information from the older data that would not have been possible at the time of the original acquisition and processing. This is achieved mainly by suppressing noise and enhancing the signal reflected from the subsurface. Re-processed data quality will be strongly affected by the acquisition parameters used during the initial data recording. The results of the re-processing will be integrated into the overall seismic dataset on Block 38 to come up with an interpretation that will help guide Frontier to optimise the location of a planned 3-D seismic survey.
Commentating on today's update, Jack Keyes, Frontier's CEO said "The re-processing of the older 2-D seismic data will be the first exploration services out-sourced by Frontier on the Omani Block. We look forward to receiving and incorporating the results to enable us to plan the next phase of our exploration activity."
Enquiries:
Frontier Resources International Plc
Jack Keyes, Chief Executive Officer Tel: +1 (713) 962 0887
Barbara Spurrier, Finance Director Tel: 020 3475 8108
Beaumont Cornish Limited (Nomad) Tel: 0207 628 3396
Michael Cornish
Roland Cornish
Beaufort Securities Limited (Broker) Tel: 020 7382 8300
Christopher Rourke
Guy Wheatley
Yellow Jersey PR Limited (Financial PR)
Dominic Barretto Tel: +44(0) 7768 537 739
Anna Legge Tel: +44 (0) 7747 788 221
About Frontier:
Frontier Resources International Plc, which was founded in April 2008, is focused on onshore oil and gas exploration and development in the Middle East and Southern Africa where the Company has technical knowledge and expertise. The Company currently has three exploration projects in Oman, Zambia and Namibia.
Frontier's immediate objectives are to continue developing its core exploration projects towards first production particularly in Oman where the Company's knowledge base is most advanced because of the proximity to producing oil and gas fields and the availability of existing seismic and well data.
The Company is incorporated in the United Kingdom with its registered office in London. It also maintains a technical and commercial office in the United States in Houston, Texas. Additionally, to support its regional operations in Southern Africa and the Middle East, offices are maintained in Namibia, Zambia and Oman.
The Company's shares were admitted to trading on AIM on 5 July 2013.